1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to land anchors used to pull a vehicle that has lost traction in mud or snow to ground where the vehicle can regain traction.
2. Prior Art
The use of various type land anchors to help pull a vehicle that has lost traction to an area where it can gain traction and move on its own power is well known. The most general use of such land anchors is in conjunction with a winch and cable assembly that is affixed to the vehicle. All such land anchors comprise two basic parts. The first is stake or fluke that is used to penetrate into the ground. The second is the stock that is used to set the pulling angle of the winch cable. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,216,159 and 3,500,598 are examples of earlier land anchor construction that involved driving a stake member into the ground with a sledge hammer or similar tool. The principal draw back to such devices was the need to carry a sledgehammer to drive the stake into the ground. Such devices were often difficult to remove from the ground once they had been used. Additionally, they did not provide sufficient anchoring to be used to pull larger vehicles. To overcome some these draw backs the stake was replaced with various designed flukes. Examples of some these designs are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,828,497; 4,363,198; and 5,850,715. In addition several of these improved designs contained modifications to assist the land anchor in being fixed in the ground by winch and cable assembly. Although these designs did achieve this function they were very bulky and took up an undesired amount of storage space in the vehicle. Other designs, such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,604, attempted to solve this problem by a construction that allowed the stock to be folded next the fluke when the land anchor is not in use.
Despite the improvements made to the earlier land anchors there still exists the need for a land anchor that can be positioned, anchored and operated by a single person, that can easily be driven into the ground by the winch and cable assembly attached to the vehicle, that is constructed to withstand the large forces necessary to pull large vehicles that have become immobilized in mud or snow, that can be easily removed from the ground once the vehicle has been pulled to free, and that is compact to require little cargo space when it is being stored in the vehicle.
Therefore, one object of this invention is to provide an improved land anchor that can be positioned, anchored, and operated to move a vehicle to a desired area by a single person.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved land anchor that can easily be driven into the ground by the winch and cable assembly attached to the vehicle without the need to use a sledgehammer to drive the anchor fluke into the ground.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved land anchor that is constructed to withstand the large forces necessary to pull large vehicles that have become immobilized in mud or snow.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved land anchor that can be easily removed from the ground once the vehicle has been pulled to free.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved land anchor that is compact when it is being stored in the vehicle.
Other objects and advantages of this invention shall become apparent from the ensuing descriptions of the invention.
Accordingly, a land anchor for use with a winch and cable assembly affixed to a vehicle to pull the vehicle when immobilized comprising a fluke having wings shaped to penetrate into ground and shaped to keep said fluke level during penetration into the ground, and a removable stock assembly affixable to said fluke. In a more preferred embodiment the fluke is provided with a stock assembly mount having a tubular member provided with a parallel slot extending through one side of the tubular member. The tubular member is fixedly attached to the rear thrust end section of the fluke with the slot being positioned to permit the stock assembly to be received by the stock assembly mount. The stock assembly has a engaging member shaped to engage and fix the stock assembly to the stock assembly mount. The stock assembly has an elongated bar fixed at one end to the engaging member. The opposite end of the elongated bar extends upward at an angle from the top surface. The stock assembly also has an elongated tubular member having a bar attaching end and a cable attaching end. The bar attaching end is pivotally attached to the opposite end of the bar. The stock assembly is also provided with an extension means pivotally attached at one end to the bar and pivotally attached at its opposite end to the tubular member to permit the bar and the tubular member to fold toward one another for compact storage.